Apple deemed world’s most innovative company

Is Apple’s (AAPL) innovation really sputtering? Not according to a survey of corporate executives conducted by the consulting firm Booz & Co. that has ranked Apple as the world’s most innovative company for the third year in a row. What’s more, Booz says that Apple “didn’t just top the rankings” this year but actually “increased its lead substantially” as a whopping 70% of survey respondents ranked it as one of the three most innovative companies in the world. For comparison, consider that runner-up Google (GOOG) was ranked in the top three by just 43% of respondents while third-place finisher 3M was ranked in the top three by 15% of respondents. Booz notes that Apple has achieved this level of innovation despite spending comparatively less on R&D than most of its competitors, including Google and Microsoft (MSFT).